The invention relates to a steering bearing for supporting a steering column of a motor vehicle, with an inner ring and an outer ring each having raceways on which balls roll.
Steering bearings are used, as is known, for supporting the steering column of a steering system of a motor vehicle. They are used to support the steering spindle that connects the steering wheel to the steering gear without play. Here, the steering bearing should have, on one hand, a high stiffness, but on the other hand should also have the lowest friction design as possible, in order to enable smooth operation of the steering system. They must also be able to effectively damp noises and vibrations and should also be largely insensitive to typical shaft and housing tolerances and should guarantee a high contact pressing force with respect to the holding force on the shaft.
Previously, standard ball bearings were installed as steering bearings, but these are subject to play. For this reason, the shaft or the housing are to be produced very precisely; the permissible tolerance range is low. The matching for achieving low play with simultaneously low friction moment is complicated and difficult.
As an alternative to the use of standard ball bearings, the installation of four-point bearings produced in non-cutting processes is also known. These are relatively expensive, because they involve complicated production processes. The matching between high stiffness and low friction moment is also complicated and difficult.